BBC World Service leaves Bush House

The BBC World Service is to broadcast from Bush House in central London for the last time later.

A final news bulletin will be read at 1200 BST from the building that has been the broadcaster's home for more than 70 years.

It will include a special dispatch recorded by the BBC's director general, Mark Thompson.

The service, which has programmes in 28 languages, is moving to another London building with the rest of BBC News.

The BBC's foreign language broadcasting service began in 1938 from Broadcasting House in Portland Place.

Mark Thompson: "This is a sad and very memorable moment"

However, after the building was bombed during the Second World War, the service re-located to Bush House in 1941.

It will now return back to Broadcasting House, which has recently completed a major extension.

Described by the BBC as a "quintessentially British building", Bush House was originally commissioned as a symbol of Anglo-American trade.

When it opened in 1925, it was considered the most expensive building the world, with a cost estimated at £2m.

From its location on the Strand, it has been the location of numerous historic moments.

King George V addressed the Empire from the building in 1932, while General Charles de Gaulle used the facilities to send daily support messages to the Free French movement after France fell to Nazi Germany in 1940.

However, the BBC has never owned Bush House and when its lease expires at the end of this year, it will return to its current Japanese owner.